The Patents of James M Stafford

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It has been a real thrill to find the patents of James Stafford. I remember stories of the glass coffin and the bottle cap, but no one seemed to know much about them. In all, James acquired 8 patents, and all of them were quite interesting. Reading them makes me (and others) want to invent something just to keep his tradition alive. Also, Flora had a patent, and she had hers befor James got any of his! The big question is what happened to all the money. Family lore has it that he was more than generous to members of his circuit riding regilious followers and that his business partners swindeled him out of the rest. Does anyone else have any thought, memories or facts about this?